Preparing for the unknown After feelings of doom, gloom, fear steadily fades from Americans' psyche

The sight of two planes slicing into New York City's majestic skyline nearly a year ago plunged a dagger into America's safe bubble of immunity.

America had changed forever, we were told. Things would never be the same.

Anthrax in mailboxes left the nation feeling even more vulnerable, even more skittish and fearful.

Americans imagined a world where they couldn't drink the tap water, where they stashed gas masks and bottles of Cipro, where they had to open the mail wearing plastic gloves.

For a while, some of those things were reality.

Yet a year later, Americans have slid back into their day-to-day routines, with little obvious concern for personal safety.

We visit Disney World and ballparks, we work in skyscrapers, we drink tap water.

We go about our lives, even as CNN plays disturbing videos of terrorists poisoning a trapped dog.

Even as we teeter on the brink of war with Iraq.

Less than a year after the attacks, Americans are consumed with other dramas, real and created Ð what Rachel of "Friends" named her baby, a roller-coaster stock market, the color of CNN correspondent Ashleigh Banfield's hair, corporate greed scandals.

"There was 9-11 followed by anthrax, and people were terrified," said Robert Butterworth, a clinical psychologist and director of International Trauma Associates, a Los Angeles-based firm.

"Now I get the feeling there's more fear over West Nile virus."

Fort Myers resident Peggy Poulsen, who grew up in New York City, plunged into depression after Sept. 11. She emerged with the help of a doctor and prescription drugs.

She still gets angry when she thinks about Sept. 11, but she says she feel safe.

"My life is still the same Ð water aerobics, the movies, dinner with friends," said Poulsen, 73.

"What I worry about is my grandchildren. They're the ones I'm fearful for. The world they're growing up in is very fragile."

The year's images confirm that: war-torn Afghanistan, lost American soldiers, a man with a bomb in his shoe and a murdered journalist.

Fear still lurks, even if only deep in people's minds. Apprehension hovers. Our sense of safety may not be shattered, but it is dented.

Many would rather drive than fly, even long distances. Poulsen's daughter pulled out of a trip to Canada to celebrate her parents' 51st wedding anniversary because she was afraid to fly.